Advertisement

SANTA ANITA : River Warden Was a Slow Learner

Share
TIMES STAFF WRITER

Hang around trainer Charlie Whittingham long enough and he will overwhelm you with pithy comments.

Asked recently if he would be running both Excavate and Compelling Sound in the Santa Anita Derby April 6, Whittingham said: “What do you think I’ve got them for, watchdogs?”

Another of Whittingham’s favorites is: “Don’t knock horses until they’ve been dead for at least 10 years.”

Advertisement

River Warden, who will give Whittingham a chance to win the San Luis Rey Stakes for the 10th time when it is run Sunday at Santa Anita, is a case in point. The 5-year-old was a stakes winner in France as a young horse, but after joining Whittingham at Santa Anita in the fall of 1989, he performed miserably. In River Warden’s first 11 starts for Whittingham, his best finishes were a pair of thirds.

At one point last fall, Whittingham even tried River Warden, a turf horse, on the dirt to see if that would bring him out of his slump. The result was a sixth-place finish.

Nov. 11, in an allowance race at Hollywood Park, River Warden finally won. Three races after that, Santa Anita’s turf course was so soggy that the San Marino Handicap was switched from the turf course to the main track. Whittingham let River Warden run and he won by three-quarters of a length. It was only his fourth victory in 23 starts and his first stakes victory since one in France in July of 1989.

Andre Fabre, a champion trainer in France, had River Warden then, and brought him to the Arlington Million that summer, where he finished 11th in his American debut.

Two other horses out of that Million--El Senor, who finished fourth, and Pleasant Variety, who was seventh--are entered in Sunday’s San Luis Rey, which will be 1 1/2 miles and worth $300,000. Here is the 10-horse field, in post-position order:

Laxey Bay, Eddie Delahoussaye; El Senor, Angel Cordero; Royal Reach, Corey Nakatani; Hecquet, Julio Garcia; First Rate, Jorge Velasquez; Live The Dream, Alex Solis; Pleasant Variety, Gary Stevens; Mashkour, Chris McCarron; Valdali, David Flores; and River Warden, Jose Santos. El Senor and First Rate will run as an entry and all horses will carry 126 pounds.

Advertisement

Whittingham, who also trains Live The Dream, has won the San Luis Rey nine times, most recently with Frankly Perfect in 1989. Four of Whittingham’s San Luis Rey winners--Fiddle Isle in 1970, Erins Isle in 1983, Prince True in 1985 and Dahar in 1986--went on to give Whittingham victories in the San Juan Capistrano Handicap, a stake the trainer has won 14 times. This year’s Capistrano will be run April 21, the next-to-last day of the Santa Anita season.

The San Luis Rey hasn’t been forced off the grass since 1975, when Trojan Bronze won, and it would take more rain for Santa Anita officials to run the stake on the main track Sunday. That probably wouldn’t bother Whittingham.

Some of trainer Wayne Lukas’ Kentucky Derby hopefuls are scattering, but Media Plan will remain in California to run in the Santa Anita Derby.

In his first start since Lukas became his trainer, Media Plan ran second to Olympio in the Sausalito Stakes at Golden Gate Fields.

Oregon, who started the year in Florida, ran seventh in the San Felipe at Santa Anita and is headed for Keeneland. Corporate Report and Battle Creek will run in Kentucky Derby preps at Oaklawn Park.

Horse Racing Notes

Eddie Delahoussaye has won the San Luis Rey the last two years, with Prized and Frankly Perfect. The last jockey to win three in a row was Laffit Pincay Jr. in 1981-83. The only other rider with three in a row was Bill Shoemaker, who won a division of the stake with Cedar Key in 1966 and then swept both halves the following year, with Niarkos and Fleet Host.

Advertisement

Marje Everett, former head of Hollywood Park, reportedly has declined an invitation to serve on the board of directors at Atlantic City Race Course. Everett and Bob Levy, the owner of the track, are longtime friends. . . . Warner Jones, the chairman of Churchill Downs and winner of the Eclipse Award of Merit for 1990, has been cited in Florida for telephone harassment, in a dispute with a land developer in Kentucky.

Pat Valenzuela’s older brother, J.R., tested positive for cocaine after riding King of Heartz to victory in the Southwestern Quarter Horse Futurity at Turf Paradise in Phoenix. A hearing will be held. Pat Valenzuela, who has a history of cocaine problems, is currently suspended in California.

Advertisement